【明報專訊】A research conducted by the American Press Institute (美國新聞協會) indicates that young Americans consume news and information mainly on social networks and often on mobile devices.

The research shows adults aged 18 - 34, "Millennials" as they are called, do not frequently visit news sites, read print newspapers, watch television news, or seek out news. They learn of events incidentally and passively, and news is just one of the many random elements in a social feed.

It is shown that many young adults hate reading traditional in-depth "hard" news, though pieces about entertainment topics and amusing issues with photos and videos attached appeal to them. It does not take a lot of effort for young people to process them.

In January 2015, The Huffington Post (《赫芬頓郵報》), an American online news aggregator, sorted news items with the highest reading rates. They included:

★109-year-old woman says secret to long life

★Seattle dog figures out buses, starts riding solo to the dog park

★Teacher and his students recreate Uptown Funk, get an A+

(source: Ming Pao, American Press Institute, The Huffington Post)

■Words

Millennial 千禧世代

"hard" news 硬性新聞

■Quiz

Choose the correct answers.

1. Which of the following is NOT correct?

a) Young Americans like using social media.

b) Young Americans love reading newspapers.

c) Young Americans read news on their mobile phones.

2. Which of the following is NOT regarded as "hard" news?

a) political news

b) economic and financial news

c) news of entertainment and celebrities

3. What does "amusing" (in paragraph 3) mean?

a) funny

b) disappointing

c) encouraging

4. Which of the following is a print newspaper? a) The Huffington Post

b) The American Press Institute

c) Ming Pao

■Glossary

seek out (phr v) 尋找

incidentally (adv) 偶然地

random (adj) 隨意的

in-depth (adj) 深入的